Dr. Alex Otti will be the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)
governorship flag bearer at next month’s general elections after the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) corrected its own error
which came to light earlier in the week.
Otti’s name was inexplicably left out of INEC’s final list on Tuesday,
December 6, as the electoral body dispatched its names of eligible
aspirants for different elective positions across the country. In a press
statement issued immediately after the omission, the Alex Otti campaign
organization had put the error down to “political machinations from the
camp of the incumbent Governor of the State who is intent on foisting his
anointed candidate on Abia State”, while urging for calm from the support
base of the governorship candidate.
“The Alex Otti campaign organization wishes to reassure his throng of
supporters that he is still in the race for the Abia State Government
House. The APGA candidate’s political detractors attempted a sleight of
hand which saw Otti’s name missing from the final list of contestants for
the position of Governor of Abia State on INEC’s roster. We wish to assure
Otti’s supporters that this error will soon be rectified by the electoral
body. All lovers of Abia are required to stay calm at this period as we
work to put the Ochendo camp to shame”, the statement had read in part.
The former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank is riding the wave of
popularity on the stomp grounds in Abia State and has been endorsed by
traditional rulers and market groups across the State; as well as by
several interest groups. His campaign mantra has been focused on changing
the old order in Abia State and increasing the State’s Internally
Generated Revenue (IGR) capacity. Otti has also laid out a fine blueprint
which includes creating an enabling environment for the private sector to
thrive, creating jobs and reviving the industry and the endeavour of the
locals.
“I was managing over 12, 000 people, but the interest of over 4 million
Abians is very important and that was why I resigned my position as the
GMD/CEO of Diamond Bank to come and serve the state and to also show our
people how to govern and not a situation where someone like the governor,
after serving for eight years, wants to go to the Senate. I will go back
to something else as soon as I leave office as the governor of the state
and not jostling for one political position or the other as has become
common among our politicians. I am in a hurry to bring the needed change
in Aba and Abia State,” Otti had said at a campaign stop in Umunneochi
community on Tuesday.
Otti is up against Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
who is Governor Theodore Orji’s anointed candidate for the governorship
race.